Book review: Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Jan. 23rd, 2026 06:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vivdunstanJust finished this, my second book finished of the New Year. And it was honestly one of the most powerful and affecting books that I've read for a very long time. A tale of Shakespeare, yet not of Shakespeare, a moving family story, an immersive glimpse of Tudor England. I'm reluctant to say too much in detail to spoil things.
Structurally it was really interesting, different in some ways I gather from the film version. I also found it phenomenally immersive, similar to the effect that Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall series had on me. I wondered if this was due to the present tense used throughout much of the book, but I don't think that's so much the reason, as an acute sense of authorial observation and description. And just thoroughly good writing.
It has big standout moments that are particularly powerful, but also moved me constantly throughout, both by the feelings conveyed, and the power of the writing, which was both lyrical and addictive in equal measure.
Just an incredible achievement. And one that I would recommend without question.
Structurally it was really interesting, different in some ways I gather from the film version. I also found it phenomenally immersive, similar to the effect that Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall series had on me. I wondered if this was due to the present tense used throughout much of the book, but I don't think that's so much the reason, as an acute sense of authorial observation and description. And just thoroughly good writing.
It has big standout moments that are particularly powerful, but also moved me constantly throughout, both by the feelings conveyed, and the power of the writing, which was both lyrical and addictive in equal measure.
Just an incredible achievement. And one that I would recommend without question.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-28 08:33 am (UTC)I dropped out of Wolf Hall after half a chapter - for some reason, first person, present tense just does not work for me.
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Date: 2026-01-28 09:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-28 12:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-28 09:58 pm (UTC)"As if he were a child, fair-minded with a treat, he gives him two slices of carrot and half the apple, to feed to his own horse; as he does so, he says, ‘You owe much to Anne Boleyn. …'"
Generally "he" used vaguely refers to Cromwell. But it's not totally consistent. Here are someone else's longer musings on this.
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Date: 2026-01-28 10:23 pm (UTC)